World video travel guide

NewsBrazil • 2012-06-22

Select the country and object's type Tourism can contribute to the three pillars of sustainability

Tourism, providing jobs and supporting the livelihoods of millions, particularly of women and young people, is central to advancing the three pillars of sustainability, agreed participants meeting at a Rio+20 tourism event.

Participants at the side event \'Tourism for a Sustainable Future\', held at Rio+20, agreed that tourism can make a significant contribution to the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental.

“Tourism is interlinked with the seven key themes being discussed here at Rio+20 – jobs, energy, cities, food, water, oceans and disasters – and can be a factor of development for developing and developed countries alike,” said Gastão Vieira, Minister of Tourism of Brazil, opening the event.

“We are here today at Rio, twenty years after the first Earth Summit, to renew our commitments, define shared goals and agree on a roadmap for a better future,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, highlighting that “amid growing economic concerns it is now, more than ever, that we need to call for the right policies, the adequate investment and the proper business practices that can advance us towards fairer, more people-centered, inclusive growth.”

“Tourism’s capacity to create jobs is central to this debate,” said Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), underlining tourism’s multiplier effects. “We cannot forget that for every job created in tourism, many more jobs are created in other sectors.”

The role of the UN system in advancing tourism’s contribution to economic growth and development was debated, namely the work of the UN Steering Committee on Tourism for Development (SCTD), an initiative led by UNWTO and bringing together eight further UN agencies and programmes (ILO, ITC, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNIDO, WTO) to ensure an integrated and more effective international cooperation – ‘Delivering as One ‘- for tourism, and to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Participants emphasized the role of sustainable tourism in creating decent jobs, stimulating trade and linkages and eliminating poverty. There was a clear call to improve the link between local communities and tourism attractions in order make tourism a more effective tool in the fight against poverty and to advance awareness-raising among tourists of their obligation to respect and protect the environment considering that it is tourism’s prime interest and responsibility to protect natural resources.

Closing the event, Maurice Strong, Secretary-General of the 1992 Earth Summit said “your sector has a real interest in protecting the environment and a huge potential for the green economy as its assets are the ones we need to preserve and enhance.”

The event also counted on the participation of the Minister of Tourism of Ecuador, Freddy Ehlers; the Minister of Tourism of Madagascar, Jean Max Rakotomamonjy; the Vice-Minister for Tourism Planning of Mexico, Jorge Mezher; Ambassador Dho Young-Shim, Member of the UN MDG Advocacy Group and Chair of the ST-EP Foundation (Sustainable Tourism - Eliminating Poverty); the President of the ST-EP Foundation and former UNWTO Secretary-General, Francesco Frangialli; and Shahrazad Roohi, Environmental Advisor for the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cultural Authority.

RSS RSS All news

 

Related objects

Amazonas

Regions, areas, large resorts  
Amazonas

Bahia

Regions, areas, large resorts  
Bahia

Minas Gerais

Regions, areas, large resorts Minas Gerais

The main part of the country's architectural heritage of Baroque period is concentrated in the state of Minas Gerais. Particularly interesting are historical cities around Ouru Preto

Olinda

Regions, areas, large resorts  
Olinda

Rio de Janeiro

Cities Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro lies on the hilly shore of Guanabara, one of the most beautiful bays in the world. City of eternal joy and bright colours, buried in verdure, flooded with golden sunlight

 Hotel Das Cataratas

Hotels  
Hotel Das Cataratas

Brazil, nature

Nature Brazil, nature

Brazilian landscapes give a birth to a sense of admiration of beauty and strength of tropical nature. The climate varies greatly from equatorial to subtropical

Capuchin monkey

Animal World, zoos  
Capuchin monkey

Devil's Throat Waterfall

Waterfalls  
Devil's Throat Waterfall

Iguaçu National Park

National parks, Nature reserves  
Iguaçu National Park

Iguazu Falls

Waterfalls  
Iguazu Falls

Subtropical forests of Brazil

Nature  
Subtropical forests of Brazil

Sunset over Iguazu Falls

Waterfalls  
Sunset over Iguazu Falls

Toucan

Animal World, zoos  
Toucan